


B'shert

by shadowkingsoffantasy



Category: DCU, Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (2017), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bat Family, F/M, Magical Bonds, Minor Character Death, Origional Characters, Soulmates, There is swearing, and implied sexual content in much later chapters, the other tags would be spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-03-04 17:42:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13369851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowkingsoffantasy/pseuds/shadowkingsoffantasy
Summary: B'Shert(n). Lit. "Destiny"; Referring to the seeking of a person who complements you and whom you complement perfectly.(This is also posted on Wattpad!)





	1. The Way of the World

**Author's Note:**

> You know I had so fucking many authors notes to put on this while I was writing but now I can’t remember a damn thing so :p Anyway, I dunno what the hell this is, I was just like ‘the world needs more Damirae’ and thus this-whatever this is was born. I don’t mean to diss any of the ships mentioned here, in fact I ship all of them so I don’t mean to…yeah u’ll get it if you bother reading this. Anyway, please let me know what u think! (Aline if you read this, chances are you’ll be very disappointed because it’s fing OOC and cheesy.)

**Chapter One**

 

 

Many magical beings have magical bonds. (Well actually everyone  does but it doesn’t really have a huge impact on you unless you’re magical, because if you’re not you will remain completely oblivious to the ties that bind everyone together.) Anyway, these bonds, they go left and right and up and down and sideways and range from mortal foes to friendships that transcend lifetimes to the other half of your soul.  Some may never find any of their bond mates. Raven has found one, Jinx.  The witch had turned out to be a very close and dear friend despite their stark opposite moral standings. And the two of them were strangely able to separate work from private life when they met up. Raven wishes things were different so that she wouldn’t have to repeatedly help put lucky in jail but jinx is very understanding and holds no grudges. (This is a relief during the few meetings they have, rare as they are. But it’s nice to know there’s someone out there for you… this is not saying that her team, her FAMILY aren’t there for her…but its different with a bond mate. She and jinx will meet again and again in each life time. She hopes that before her time in this body is up she can form many new bonds with her new friends so that that friendship and feelings of love and family can follow her from this life to the next)) (It’s an obvious given that the titans know nothing- because let’s face it they wouldn’t be too pleased. She doesn’t think they’ll find out though because even Damian will have a problem keeping up with magic) But she digresses, the ways in which people realize and recognize such bonds vary. There are flash backs, headaches, a pull, a swap dreams and a seemingly never ending list.

 

But sometimes you can just tell when you touch their mind. So when Raven uses her magic to heal Damian and bring him back from the edge of death after the bloody idiot decided to pick a fight with the space bug she touches his mind. It’s unintentional but unavoidable and you can imagine her shock when she finds that bird boy and her share a premonition bond. She can’t identify the bond exactly but its strong and has so so much potential and it makes her dizzy and she has to concentrate real hard and focus on keeping him ALIVE. (In the end she collapses with exhaustion)

 

She doesn’t know what kind of bond that was but later he tells her he saw into her head and she doesn’t care at that moment if they have a bond or not. Damien isn’t a magical and most people don’t understand. So she shuts him out (it wasn’t like they’d broken down major walls anyway)

 

But then for all his insufferable jerkishness Damian is really nice and she doesn’t mean to feel it but she does. For a split second on that Ferris wheel on pier 64 they lock eyes and for that one second Raven has to physically restrain herself from giving into the pull. She looks away (as does he)There are so many walls and Raven wants to figure it out but then of course her father decodes to show up and ruin everything so she has to deal with that.

 

And afterwards, when she’s wearing a gem imprisoning Satan on her forehead she can’t really focus on much else because she’s trying to learn how to tell her dad to shut the fuck up  because there’s only so much of his empty threats that can be considered amusing before they become old (and she maybe being a tiny bit overconfident but she’s still riding on some sort of high) (She’s knocked a notch or two when Trigon puts up a fight to get out and she ends up in the infirmary with the effort it took to lock him further in this jeweled prison) Everyone’s very supportive, kind words and physical touches which all make her feel like home, make her feel like there’s something to protect but also make her feel crushed under the pressure of being that PROTECTOR. Drown in the fear of all she has to lose. She appreciates everybody; really she does but sometimes she just needs Damian’s silent support and his snarky dickishness to give her something to laugh about while she gets her shit together.

 

And then the months just pass and she’s better at shutting her father out and there are nightmares but that’s been a thing forever so whatever. But then one night the nightmares are different. It’s not about Azarath turning to ash o of the land of hellish horrors that’s he’s had to call her home for years. Instead it was fire and a woman with familiar piercing green eyes and death and hurt because there was no love and anger and anger and sad, sad, sad. And she sees blood and –

 

She knows it was Damian and his emotions that bleed into her mind. He has no control and she doesn’t know what to do. Which is probably why she forgets herself, why  when she see’s Damian at the tower a day or two later more closed off than he’s been since he first joined the team she whispers that’s she’s sorry about his mom. This was a mistake. Because she’s not _supposed_ to know.  Because Damian’s a private person and Raven understands because so is she and he’s never really appreciated people in his mind (as he’s made explicitly clear.) And Raven mentally kicks herself because no she didn’t mean to its just that with everything going on she kinda forgot that they have a bond-whatever type it maybe. But the cold glare the son of batman is giving her doesn’t exactly make her feel more secure in explaining this so she just repeats and apology and flees into the shadows.

 

She puts up walls after that. Mental barriers because they may have a connection but not everyone is as open to that type of thing as she and jinx and she shouldn’t have let it have gone unattended and growing  but she forgot. But now that she remembers and it’s probably immoral to leave that link open without Damians permission so she’ll put it in a closet. (And hope that Damian forgives her for earlier because the thought that he won’t leaves a strange hurt)

 

She knows that Damian isn’t one to let others control his life, or to have his life decided for him so whatever their connection, when she works up the courage to tell him about It, she’ll have to let him decide. (And she’ll have to respect his decision. She will.)


	2. Is Making Bomds and Breaking Them

Chapter Two

 

Terra Markov is a suspicious character but then again maybe she's being biased on the fact that she's a bit of a bitch. Damian was jerk but he's fine on the inside so Raven knows that she should give the other a chance because let's face the facts their whole team was made up of troubled teenagers who were all rough around the edges and hard to get close to at first.

 

She's trying to give Terra the benefit of the doubt but something about the girl rubs her the wrong way so she just mostly stays away from her and tries to avoid conflict. Damian too takes this approach (eventually). Though she is well aware that he had many relapses that border temporary obsession till something else comes along. And she should be worried (she is) but it's Damian and he's always like that. So the best she can do is buy him candy floss and make sure he takes a break (this is done under the guise of 'Let others have their turn Damian' everyone tries this with him but strangely it only works with her) And then onetime she catches him looking into Starfire's files on Terra (which is mainly medical stuff that's been taken since she joined the titans) and she calls him out on it. And he returns that she's suspicious too but that the difference between them is that she's 'nice' enough to ignore her. (Is it just her or was that and insult that he tried to say as a compliment?)

 

And then he goes MIA and she's worried so she texts him.

 

'Flying solo. Don't bother me.' Dick.

There's a dull ache at the back of her head coming from where she keeps the link between herself and Damian hidden. She's tempted to look, to check and make sure he's ok but she then thinks back to his icy glare and doesn't . (Her heart tells her to but her mind has no heart and she should really learn to use her head more- perhaps if she had all those years ago her mother would still be around)

 

And then Terra betrays them.

 

She wakes up and she's strapped to some machine and the first thing she's drawn to is Damian. His face is bruised and she suspects, she KNOWS that he's in pain but other than that he looks like his usual mouthy self. And oh great there's a mad man and a cult and she thinks it's ironic because she feels like she might die soon so it's full circle. (No they don't die)

 

Terra does though, and she tries to ignore Damians emotions but...he's loud. And he's angry again because as suspicious as he'd been of Terra she suspects that the fact that the girl too was manipulated by Slade draws sympathy from Damian. (She's not supposed to know this but she does so she doesn't take the bait when Damian tries to pick fights with het the following week. Unfortunately Jaime and Gar, especially Gar aren't so insightful) And while she feels sorry for Damian and helps clean his cuts after his run in with Gar she knows he had it coming because she'd feel the same way if she and Gars places were switched. But Damian puts all his emotional baggage into a locker and shuts the door, and it's so full of demons that sometimes the door opens and some get out before he can close it and he's back to wrestling them back into its confines. This is one such time. She feels torn because she's not the best with emotions or talking in general and he's worse than her and on a very short fuse. He needs to take his mind off everything, expectations and pain and the bullshit that was life and she wants to help but she doesn't know how to start so she thinks what the hell and buys him a puppy. (Actions speak louder than words right?)

 

....He names the dog Titus from shakesphere. Everyone's very impressed/freaked out with his sudden literary sensitivity (because Shakspehere was a romantic right?) And think that it means he's mellowing out. But then Raven tells them it's the most violent of all his plays and they relax.

 

Sometimes (many times) they take Titus for walks in central park together

 

 

 


	3. Is Having Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if anyones reading this buut...HERE YA GO!!

**Chapter Three**

 

In the long run Damian knew he couldn’t stay a kid forever but when his first (Late) growth spurt hits and his stupid voice cracks a bit and this joints start to ache and that shit starts he screams bloody murder and nearly beheads Tim for making fun of him and DOES behead every single training hologram the bat computer throws at him. (He has hell to pay when his body starts hurting all over and regrets it so so much afterwards though he’ll never say it) (But yeah he’ll listen to Alfred and ease into it) He mostly was at the manner but when he finally had to face the team he nearly kills Logan and Reyes too.  But it was BEARABLE save for the stupid teenage hormones. Considering the fact that he was raised in the isolated mountains in Kathmandu by the league of assassins and basically molded into a living weapon Damian wasn’t exactly normal. By no means was he ashamed of his heritage but his upbringing had proven to leave certain social skills to be desired. So when he starts noticing Raven in WEIRD ways, like how those guys in movies notice pretty girls, it freaks him the hell out. Because it’s RAVEN. Ravens a friend, possibly his best friend, she’s like a sister. When he looks at her, even before this there’s always been a strange sort of fondness which he’s classifies as some sort of familial love (So he didn’t feel that way exactly for Grayson, Drake, Gar or Jaime- so what they were all guys) )Ok so he didn’t feel that way about Kori or Cassie, So what they were older?)So basically, she’s Raven but she’s also RAVEN.  Before he maybe on occasion wanted to hug her (a secret he will take to his grave) but now, what freaks him out is how he wants to kiss her. It’s not always an actual KISS but sometimes he thinks he’d just like to press his lips to her hairline and hold her hand. And that’s what really scares him, the gentleness of such acts. The fondness and longing that they bring. It scares him because now only does he realize that he has a soft spot for Raven more so than the others. Now, with all these facts presented to him, a normal teenager would go into a few months of agonizing denial. But as previously stated; Damain is NOT a normal teenager.  He has a crush on Raven and it’s a problem, a weakness, a liability. A compromise, not only as Robin but as Damian Wayne.

 

If we’re being honest, the media and paparazzi has a problem keeping up with the Wayne family. When Dick first came along they were all over him and then Jason and Tim but then they kinda just lost track of everything. (Said children do not help ie: News headlines read ‘does Bruce Wayne have a new Ward?’ Dick posts a picture of Damian in the library his face obscured by shadows. ) But needless to say as a ward of Bruce freaking Wayne he garners much attention and has learned through experience that ordering a coffee from the girl at starbucks puts not only him but her as well in a tough situation. And he thinks that IF by some freak turn of events he DOES end up dating raven it would be hell for her and as a friend he doesn’t want that.  And ALSO, Bruce would probably kill him. Because Raven was a public hero, like Garfield. Her secret identity wasn’t exactly a secret and with Dick already dating Kori if another Wayne ward started dating a member of that same team well…there were some pretty smart people out there and they could connect the dots.

 

So it’s really not a surprise that he keeps this to himself.

 

But then Raven is kidnapped by some crazy who’s going on an empathy collecting spree and her rooms a MESS with obvious signs of struggle and how the hell even did that guy get into Titans tower? How the fuck did he manage to get RAVEN?! He finds a book, lying open on her bed, she was probably writing in it before she was attacked and he doesn’t mean to pry he really doesn’t. In fact he’s being completely honest with himself when he says that he was going to close the book and discreetly put it away so as not to arouse beast boys curiosity but then he sees his name.

_Damian,_

_The towers kinda lonely without all of you guys around. I know you offered but Christmas and people aren’t really for me. I know they’re not really your thing either but they’re your family. And I’ve gone through this a bunch of times before, almost every Christmas since forever but it’s really lonely to not have an actual home. No one will ever read this if I have anything to say about it but I feel the strange need to keep repeating that it’s not that I don’t’ consider this team my family….it’s just that…I feel like a black sheep. And I also sometimes need a break from the contend dampening of our bond-_

 

 

He stops reading but takes the book.

 

And they use and old friend of Nightwings, miss Martian to track that bastard down because while it would have been much easier had they not insisted that he remove the tracers that he had on them they did. And if he’s a little harsher than their used to when expressing his displeasure at the situation he can’t feel guilty because every minute they waste (which they could have avoided wasting had they just let him keep the damd tracers on them) is one in which raven could die But they get there in time. They rescue Raven and a bunch of other missing empaths and stop another psycho and then they go out for deli.

 

And then there’s the book.


	4. Is Accepting Who You Are and Reveling in It

Chapter Four

 

It’s a normal note book with worn pages and Ravens dark writing curling across the paper. He doesn’t read it all because he doesn’t think he has the right to. He doesn’t have the right to read even a little but Damian’s always pushed till the edge. But he’s being truthful when he says he doesn’t read a lot. Just the ending and a bit (of a few of the many letters [?]) that are addressed to him.  But it’s enough to see that Raven is insecure and scared and lonely because the words seem to be fused with emotions and enough to see that there’s something about THEM that the stupid,stupid girl isn’t telling him. But he doesn’t read much, because if he does Raven would know and she’d probably be mad and that was nowhere near what he wanted to come of this. So he finds himself outside the sorceress’s door. It opens halfway revealing Ravens blue violet eyes. Her hood is down and her dark hair frames her pale face. “We need to talk,” he says, ever blunt.  She raises an eyebrow crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the door frame. Her gaze stays locked to his and at the back of his mind he remembers when he was shorter than her. “What about?” she asks. “Let me in and I’ll tell you,”

 

And Raven feels like those words have a hidden meaning, a message which is a product of not being good with words rather than being good with them. She searches his face but it gives nothing away. “Sure, whatever,” And she moves and he steps in the door hissing shut behind him. And then their left in the darkness of Ravens room, illuminated only by the silver moonlight streaming through the open windows. She flicks on the light, more just for something to do than for either of their benefit because they both see pretty well in the dark.

 

They stare at each other for a little while and it gets kinda awkward. But then He holds up the book and her eyes narrow. “You read it?” “Just a bit,” “Insensitive Jerk.” She mutters, looking away from him, her cheeks turning a beautiful shade of pink. “But I’m your jerk if you want me,” And her head snaps back towards him as she blinks in surprise because honestly she wasn’t expecting that. Judging by his stupid smirk he knew she wasn’t, “Thought so,” he says under his breath. And she feels annoyed and happy and she knows she needs to do something to wipe that smirk off his gorgeous face so she pushes him against her door and crashes her mouth onto his. It’ll suffice to say that that shuts him up. (They need to talk but they’ll get to that later)

 

Still, it’s a whole two months later that she comes to his room, clutching the notebook close to her chest. “You…said you didn’t read all of it,” she says holding it out. He looks at it surprised because he understands what that book is what’s in it (really he doesn’t but he understands that its personal, stretching back to when she was just a child even more confused about her place in the world than she was now. ) She nods, her eyes peering into his soul in that way that she’s so good at doing. _It was meant for you anyway_ she says in his mind.

 

Raven really shouldn’t be surprised when he shows up at her room two hours later but she is. Even more so when he pushes her in and wraps his arms around her and just HOLDS her because its honestly not very Damian (not that she’s complaining) but It makes sense because while they’re both cold and not really easy to get close to their touch and attention starved and have had difficult lives and they just want more of the feeling of ‘home’.  There’s silence for a while and he just rests his chin on her head (it’s kinda funny how he’s tall enough to do that now) and she keeps her arms around him and gives him time to work through his words. She feels the buzzing thoughts at the back of her mind (she still keeps the shields up though because while Damian wants their bond he has no idea how to control what she can and can’t hear yet). Finally he gets out “I don’t know how to tell you what I feel” and she’s overcome with the need to protect him, to do everything she can to make him happy because for all his self confidence and arrogance Damian Wayne needs love. She tightens her hold on him for a second before leaning away and standing on her tippy toes to brush her lips against his. “It’s ok, we have time.”

 

*****

 

They are by no standards normal teenagers because Damian was raised by assassins and an eco terrorist and Ravens part demon and has lived in both hell and another dimension, and they’re both teenage superheroes who’ve saved the world more than once. But even so, at one point they decide that they should maybe try going on a normal date.  They don’t leave the tower together (because the Titans don’t know) (And maybe that’s a bad thing but she wants it to be just theirs for a little while longer and he thinks it’s none of their business- she knows there’s more to it than that.) (Plus sneaking around is kinda fun at first) SO anyway, Damien wears a hoodie and sunglasses and Raven wears a headscarf and they go to watch a movie. It’s horror and called ‘IT’ and it’s about a creepy version of Dr Zeuses cat in the hat and a lot of people seem scared but they kind of wonder why they paid for tickets in the first place because the seats are uncomfortable and there are selfie obsessed teenagers behind them and people who can’t seem to sit still in front of them and tall people blocking their view and people just keep SHRIEKING and the damd cat isn’t even that scary) (In their minds they admit they might be a bit too critical but its unavoidable seeing as they’ve seen far worse horrors) “The classics are better,” Raven says afterwards, when they go to some inconspicuous diner to eat. “It gives you that feeling of being the first idea of that kind and the stories were more immersive,” “Maybe, Grayson and Todd tried to make me watch some of those classics when I first came to the manner it think…I liked them. But next time I want to try a different genre.” She smiles into her glass of water because he said next time. Unfortunately it doesn’t really get better after that so much as it gets worse.

 

Because the food isn’t that great and they leave before dessert anyway because Damian thinks he saw a reporter with a camera aimed at them and it starts raining forcing them to go to an abandoned bus stop for cover. They’re both soaking and Damian’s grumpy which in turn makes Raven snappy. “I don’t understand the point of dates like this,” "We’ve been on dates before” she points out, and they have. They’ve gone walking Titus together and jointly volunteered to get the groceries and have watched movies in each other’s rooms and have just sat on the roof reading together and sometimes they just take walks but they’ve never really called them ‘dates’. Never planned ahead exactly what they’d do and where they’d go. “Not like this,” “Didn’t realize I was-“ And they don’t get further than that because their comm. links beep and there’s a mission. Armed robbery by hive and they’re supposed to get the team and portal there. Damian growls in frustration and Raven raises an eyebrow. “Thought you weren’t having fun with me.” “It’s not you that’s the problem,” he says as they step through a portal that she makes in an abandoned alley way. ‘It’s the DATE, I don’t see why we need to strive for normalancy when we’re fine the way we are,’ And she thinks he has a point.

 

Their next date is reading together in Damians room, they use the mental link and play out different characters and throw playful insults back and forth and this is more them. (And ‘them’ is wonderful)


	5. And Making Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so I know that by now YOU know that my characterization is a...few miles(?) off....I'M SORRY I TRIED!!!

**Chapter Five**

 

Now, while they honestly DO like each other (a lot) and while Damian is trying his best to learn to control his share of the link it’s not that easy because Raven herself has never had this kind of link before so she’s learning as she goes too. It’s not much of a problem at first as the bond between them was still fragile and new. But a month or two passes and they become closer and now they have privacy issues. Because Raven suddenly knows the password for the bat computer and Damain starts muttering in languages that are dead on worlds AWAY from Earth and the tid bits of non shared private memories and emotions that unintentionally bleed through put both of them on edge. Because bond mates or not they’re still them, still guarded. They still want to be their own people so they still need SPACE.  Because while these moments of jumbled memories can be funny and harmful sometimes, and insightful into understanding the other sometimes they’re just things that they weren’t ready to disclose.  Like how Raven finds out that Damien has killed.

 

The memory comes to her when she’s taking a shower, the warm water cascading down her back and through her hair. And then suddenly she sees a courtyard. On one side lined up like a stone army are men and women clad in black and on a sort of dais are two people, their hands and feet bound and sitting up on their knees. On the balcony stand Ras’Al ghul and his daughter and her-his visions shifts and HER heart stops because she’s looking into the face of Slade Wilson. The monster nods, and he moves forward. He looks into the eyes of the two people who have been tied up, their glaring at him, gazes full of hate but he can see the hands of fear clawing at their hearts. It shows through their eyes. He raises his arm and there’s a knife and with one swift movement he slits both their throats. He’s five.

 

She gasps as the vision slips away, and she realizes that she’s on her hands and knees and that the waters gone cold. Damian had killed, but she couldn’t exactly judge him for that…. Damian had known Slade….

 

She asks him about it, the next time she sees him. She keeps her tone as neutral as she can because she knows she shouldn’t be judgmental, or angry or sympathetic or shocked or anything because anyone of those could set Damien off. (Including neutralism apparently) because the next thing she knows they’re having a full on screaming match in their heads  (because they’re in the kitchen and Gar eating pie) (and they’re screaming because their link is out of control and their voices are louder and it’s just harder to keep their emotions under control while using it) _‘I wasn’t PRYING ok?! It bled through and I just wanted to ask and I’m your GIRLFRIEND so sorry if I was worried about you!’_ she mentally spat.

 

_‘I don’t NEED you to be worried. I NEED you to understand what to leave alone!’_

 

_‘Just because I’m in your head doesn’t mean I get what you do and don’t want to talk about Damian. You bottle your emotions up even when you want to face them because it’s all you’ve been taught to do and as a result you have the emotional range of a teaspoon and that’s fine except I can’t figure out which is safe and what’s a landmine unless you tell me! And you don’t even HAVE to tell me! Just maybe not blow up at me for worrying about you!’_

 

_‘You don’t need to KNOW how I feel about it you should use common sense- but then again you yourself have said you may not possess any-‘_ and bringing up her past mistakes was a low jab, a really, really low jab but he’s ANGRY. Because that memory. The first time he’d taken a life… It had been part of his training, Slade’s idea seeing as if he was to lead the league of Assassins he should learn how to kill. He still remembers almost being able to feel the lives of his victims slipping away. He’d felt so torn after that, because on one hand it was so horrific but grandfather and mother and basically the whole league KILLED. The conflict that his actions had brought into his mind had resulted in much punishment and…he didn’t want anyone to see the monster that he was becoming then. And Raven-

 

‘ _it doesn’t exactly count when I know you don’t want to deal with it alone- oh and by the way maybe you should get around to dealing with everything you shut in that closet of yours before it explodes’_ and he doesn’t get the closet reference but their connection gives him the gist  of it. ‘ _Tt. Says YOU. And also, I happen to understand what of what I see in your mind to leave be. Like that demon girl from your fathers realm-‘_ her whole body stills. _‘So why can’t you Raven?!’_ And that’s…

 

“You’re an asshole you know that?” She snaps out loud, her voice laced with so much anger it makes an already on edge Garfield jump in his seat. Because that’s private. Because Raven spent a good deal of her childhood trapped in hell, seeing horrors that no one should see and having to bear so much hurt. Having her heart and emotions played with. Because Juno, another daughter of Trigon, her half sister, another conduit for Trigon to use to take over another innocent world had asked her to KILL her because she didn’t want to be used. And Raven had done it, she’d killed her sister. And lived in shame not because of the act but because she couldn’t find the courage or the nobility in herself to do the same and save Earth. It’s one of her deepest darkest memories and- yeah she see’s now that maybe she should have recognized how asking Damian about what she saw was a bad idea but she’ so ANGRY right now (she’s not sure at who)-  “ So many have told me,” Damian grits out, green eyes narrowed. And Garfield glances between the two of them and he’s majorly confused.

 

Because they’d come into the kitchen and he’d been eating some of the left over pie that their new teammate Conner had made yesterday and it had been peaceful and quiet. They’d been drinking that green tea that they both liked but then Damian had slammed the cup down on the counter, Raven following suite (albeit more gently) and then there’s been this full on staring/ glaring/ scowling match. And Gar had tried to ignore them, really because well…they did that sometimes. But the atmosphere was getting more and more tense with each passing second and then finally Raven explodes. And now they’re arguing and going silent and speaking again and he’s majorly confused. (And kinda scared too because Ravens half demon and she’s kind of glowing right now and Damian has some serious anger management issues) Raven storms out of the kitchen and Damian snaps at him “What the hell are you looking at Logan?!!” before following suite and he hears the sound of things breaking coming from Damian’s room not long after.


	6. And Fixing Them...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou everyone who's read so far, and i'm sooo sorry for the long wait!

**Chapter Six**

 

 

 

It doesn't get much better after that. The following week is filled with more moments like that morning in the kitchen leaving the rest of their team thourouly confused but too scared to ask. (Nightwing tried approaching Damian while he was massacring holograms in the training room around the third day- a stupid move on his part because he could seriously have picked a better time. Anyway, Dick ended up getting slammed into a wall so…) And around Friday after witnessing one of their fights Kori is really glad that they have metal sliding doors and not the normal wooden ones that you can slide shut because she thinks that had they had those they would have had to replace the ones on Raven and Robins room a couple of times. So she’s thankful for small favors. (On Saturday she finds she stands corrected about the slamming doors thing because apparently you can pull the doors shut-there’s a lot of slamming the next two days before she finally threatens to remove their doors)

 

 

And they really should talk and not fight they know. Because this isn’t helping their link, at ALL. But both of them are too stubborn to broach the word sorry with the other so they stay as they are. Raven knows she should be more mature because she IS technically older (by a few months) and she IS the one who knows how bad this could get. She’s the one who’s doing most of the work in keeping the shields between their minds up because Damian hasn’t got the hang of it yet and he’s too angry to really do any good.  But this is dangerous because it could really backfire and if it happens during a mission it won’t just be putting them but their team and innocent lives at risk so….yeah Raven should fix it.

 

 

But she’s not good with words, or needless to say relationships and Damian is even more complicated so she kind of needs advice so it’s really no wonder she calls Jinx.

 

 

They agree to meet up behind the Pepsi billboard on this old building on the farther side of jump city. When Raven gets there the pink haired sorceress has yet to arrive so she sits on the edge of the building and lets her legs dangle down. The sun is setting and painting the sky all these pretty colors and her father misses the blood red skies of hell and she tells him he should get used to this because he’ll never see that awful place again as long as she lives.  (He can’t wait till she dies he says, so she tunes him out afterwards) She turns her head towards the shadows behind the billboard when she feels a familiar tug.

 

 

“Hey Lucky,” she gives a small wave as another girl, older than her but still a teenager herself with pink hair and magenta eyes walks out of the shadows to sit next to her. “Hey pretty bird,” she says. And there’s a momentary silence because it’s just nice to have a bond mate near you. (And she shouldn’t think about that because she remembers Damian and how much she’s missed having him near her these past few days.) “So,” the other starts. “What’s bothering ya?” “Straight to the point?” Raven asks wryly. Jinx gives her a small sad smile. “We don’t really have much time.” Raven nods and proceeds to tell her about Robin. (She keeps it as ‘robin’ because his identity is not her secret to tell)

 

 

“And I know I should fix things but I just don’t really know how because so far trying to talk to him about problems hasn’t really gotten us anywhere.” She finishes. “Hmm….so you think he’s mad at you to the point he wants to just forget about your bond?” “I don’t know,” Raven says hugging her knees and looking towards the star speckled sky. “What do you think?” “I think you should ask him.”

 

 

“My thoughts exactly” A new, oh so familiar voice cuts in. And Raven whirls around, and how could she not notice him goddammit. Now Damian, glad in his Robin uniform walks out of the shadows and stops right in front of Raven who’d jumped up upon seeing him, he crosses his arms over his chest. They stare at each other for a few seconds, no talking through their minds or words. Then his gaze shifts to the other occupant on the roof. Then back to her.

 

 

“She’s a bond mate.” Raven says. “’Lucky’ I presume,” Damian recalls the name being mentioned in Ravens notebook. Raven nods. And she nearly gasps when she hears his voice in her mind because that hadn’t happened intentionally in a while. Not like this.

 

 

_‘She’s a criminal,’_ and Raven scoffs and rolls her eyes.

 

 

_‘I don’t see you complaining about your fathers’ relationship with Selina Kyle’_

 

 

_‘You know very well that I complain.’_

 

 

_‘You secretly like her.’_

 

 

_‘Do not.’_

 

 

_‘Bullshit’_

 

 

And Ravens smiling and even Damians mouth has a little upward curl at the corners ad this is the easiest conversation they’ve had in a while. It’s their back and forth banter before that terrible fight. They’re snapped out of their little world of ‘them’ when Jinx clears her throat. She has an amused look on her face.

 

 

“Well now that the two of you are back to your happy domestic life I’ll be on my way. It was nice seeing you again Rae,” she says and Raven hugs her because no matter that she’s a criminal Jinx really is a wonderful person. “You too Lucky”

 

 

When they’re back in the tower Damian in the control room finishing up some mission report and Raven in her room taking a shower it occurs to her. _‘Hey Damian?’_ She asks, reaching out to her soul mate. The link is strangely calm, probably an effect of the fact that they have gone through the worst of their fight. _‘Hmm?’_ _‘This past whole week I’ve been shielding our minds to try and stop any unwanted thoughts from being heard- you weren’t really helping by the way,’ ‘Sorry,’_ the dark haired boy says sheepishly. _‘mhm. Anyway, you couldn’t have known about my meeting with jinx through the bond…so…how did you know where to find me?’_ And he’s silent which makes Raven pause while washing the shampoo out of her hair. ‘ _Damian?’_ she thinks her voice stern.  _‘You hadn’t left the tower for anything other than a mission or to cool off after one of our fights for the past week or so and neither of those had happened so I was curious as to where you went. In all honesty I didn’t mean to pry but I was…worried. Also I was going to apologize to you and try and make amends but you leaving was counterproductive to that so…’_ And she senses the honesty in his words and his good intentions (and her heart does this weird fluttery thing at the knowledge that despite their fight he was worried about her and that he wanted to fix things too) _‘First of all I’M sorry. You’re right I really should have been more sensitive and not let curiosity get the best of me…’ ‘While that’s true I understand how your perception of the situation and mine vary…But I accept you apology if you accept mine.’ ‘I do, thank you for forgiving me.’_ And she nearly forgets what she’s originally been asking but no, she’s sometimes thoughtless, but not very often is she forgetful. So she understands, both as a result of knowing Damian and because of common sense what he was indirectly saying.

 

 

_‘Oh my GOD Damian you put a TRACKER on me!’_

 

 

_‘Technically you can track me through our bond so…’_

 

 

She’s not as upset as she should be over this and while that’s disturbing it means they’ll be alright. 


	7. It's Learning to Love...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I'm so sorry for the long long wait. I have... some excuses. Teheheee  
> 2) My term test is the day after- ah wait no.its 1.32am, so my term test is tomorrow OH MY GOD WTF AM I DOING *Cries*

 

**Chapter Seven**

 

Three weeks later she's not alright.

 

In fact she wakes up in the morning feeling like death. Her body aches and she feels drowsy and her eyes can't stand the light and her throat is all dry and sore. She feels terrible at 5.00am in the morning, when usually she's at her best. So she does the smart thing and wraps the covers around herself and goes back to bed.

 

But of course her boyfriend comes knocking a mere thirty minutes later because it's their ritual to watch the sunrise over Jump city together and Raven hadn't shown up. Normally, someone would consider the fact that said girl decided to just stay in bed but this is Raven and Ravens never late (not to this). So obviously the overprotective dork has a dozen and one case scenarios on WHY which turn into two dozen and one when the mage girl doesn't respond to their link and so he comes to check on her. It's actually very sweet, but Ravens sick and just wants to sleep so she gives a (possibly) over exaggerated moan of "Go AWAY Damian," before coughing like she's going to die. Mid way through her coughing her lungs out there's a hand on her shoulder and a glass of water being offered to her. She gladly accepts it and keeps it on her bedside table and snuggles back into her covers. And then sits right back up (Azar does she regret it because it makes her head spin). Who was in her-

 

"Damian?" She asks, staring at the figure who sits on the edge of her bed. "How did you get in here?" And her words must be coming out jumbled or slurred because he gives her a look of fond amusement but there's worry hidden behind his green gaze. "Lay back down," he says, gentle but firm. She does because sitting up hurts her head. "Do you know what's wrong?" he asks. She gives a non committal no before closing her eyes and shutting him out.

 

And Damian tells Kori that Ravens sick and basically rattles on all his possible theories ranging from meta human poison to something to do with Trigon because there are so many things that could be wrong and-

 

"She has a cold Damian,"

 

A cold.

 

"It'll probably become fever but it'll wear off. She's fine."

 

Raven has a cold and the words nearly give him a heart attack because Raven doesn't, SHOULDN'T get colds. Her white blood cell count was higher than any normal humans (only it obviously didn't affect her like it affected them) instead it gave her body the ability to heal itself at an accelerated rate. Wounds that would take the rest of them months to heal would take her only a week to get over, and the red marks that he leaves on her neck disappear within an hour. She hasn't gotten sick without some other mystical or outer cause for as long as Damian has known her and to his knowledge even before so his mind runs like a roller coaster with everything that could be wrong.

 

He reminds Kori of this. But it's Raven who answers, her eyes still closed and body wrapped up in her dark covers. She mutters something about magic and she's had it before and she'll be fine and for him to shut up and let her sleep.

 

"Let's let her rest Damian," Kori says ushering him out of the room despite his protests. And he worries (It is really ridiculous and stupid how much) an hour or two later he's still thinking about it and trying not to think about it because he's sure it must show through their bond. _'Yeah it does,'_ he jumps as Ravens voice echoes through his head. _'It's really sweet but I'm fine. I promise, I just need rest and medicine like normal and I'll get better. Stop thinking about it. I'll explain later kay? I promise.' 'Ok.'_ He awnsers and he forces himself to stop his worrying because Raven says she'll be fine and he trusts her.

 

Two days later Ravens not back to 100% but she's not breaking out in fever anymore so that's good. _'Are you SURE you're alright?_ ' he asks, glancing at her over his shoulder. Raven is sitting on one of the stools by the kitchen counter while he makes her herbal tea. (She can make it herself but she knows when to pick her battles and her boyfriend doting over her isn't really something she needs to fight) Raven rolls her eyes at him. _'I'm fine Damian,'_

 

_'No offence beloved but you're sick and you're part demon. You don't usually GET sick unless there's something wrong'_

 

This draws a quiet laugh from the mage girl and Damian thinks the sound is beautiful. _'There's a version of the cold that's actually a curse. I'm as susceptible to it as anyone else. That's what this is, it's just a cold that can be caught by half demons and it'll pass. I've caught it before._ ' She senses him relax and she senses his embarrassment at being so worked up over nothing, she smiles gently because it's cute. (But she doesn't laugh because she knows that he's scared of the gentleness that comes to him regarding their relationship, and she knows that he'll reflexively take laughing as being mocked so she doesn't laugh because they're not there yet.) Then she pauses turning to look at him, a surprised look gracing her face as his earlier words sink in.

 

_'Beloved?'_ she asks, her voice in his head is soft, and sounds almost scared that she's heard wrong. And he realizes then that that is what he called her. There's nothing wrong with it, so he shrugs because she is loved. He does love her. _'I love you too Damian,'_ she says, and there's a wave of emotions that's proof to her words. But then they continue with what they were doing because that's just how they roll. 

 

 

 


	8. And Loving In Return.

 

** Chapter Eight **

 

On the outside, in public they don't seem at all like a couple. They barely talk (out loud) when they're next to each other (and they really need to work on that). They don't really show too much affection save for a few fleeting glances that pass so quickly that no one can really identify the emotions behind them.

 

At the tower they seem like just friends who give each other space but are there when it counts and on missions they seem cold and focused (and they try to be). They to separate personal and professional because they don't want innocent people to get hurt, for their friends to get hurt because they let their emotions get in the way. It usually works. They can put up this wall like one puts on a coat, and they fling it away behind closed doors. (It should worry both of them, how easy it is to throw away that metaphorical coat.) How Raven can let Damian in so freely, how she lets him see the darkest parts of her mind. And how Damian's let Raven become his heart, his whole world (-'your weakness, your compromise' his mother's voice hisses.) It could hurt both of them which is, in the end their reasoning for keeping it secret. Because the more of their friends who know, the more that carefully drawn line between being objective and subjective will blur and the harder it will be. (It'll catch up to them later but for now they go with it.)

 

-But of course the team is not stupid. Possibly a little dense but definitely not stupid. At least not stupid enough to not realize that Damian and Raven have feelings for each other. It's very obvious to people who've known them for a while, but they don't push or try to get them together, because meddling in DAMIAN and RAVEN's love life was probably not a very good idea.-

 

And now it's Christmas, and it's been a year since they got together (not that anyone knows that) but it's still been a year. They've worked out most of their bond (for now, Raven says that from what she knows it changes again when they're older) Learning to control a magical link when one is not magical themselves is a tedious complicated task but Damian's a quick study and has always loved a challenge.

 

But anyway, it's Christmas and this is the first one that Raven will NOT be spending in a temple, in hell, hauled up inside her room or fighting a bunch of extremist super villains. . The people of Azarath didn't HAVE Christmas and needless to say the birth of Jesus Christ was not celebrated in hell, and during her first Christmas as a titan though everyone had offered to have her some over to theirs she hadn't really felt too comfortable with the idea so had stayed in the tower (Jaime had been there too so it hadn't been lonely). The second Christmas, there had been a global crisis. This year she was being dragged along to a manor to spend Christmas with the bat family.

 

_'Don't call us the Bat family,_ ' Damien says, glancing over at her. They were both in the back seat of Dick's car. Said man was driving with Kori in the front passenger seat, the both of them were singing the Christmas songs that were playing on the radio and Raven and Damian had long since given up on pleading for mercy.

 

_'I'm just calling it as it is,_ ' the sixteen, going on seventeen year old girl says. _'It makes us sound like we're something out of one of those Sunday morning cartoons that Gar watches.'_ 'Hmm...you know you could be' Raven muses. Damian raises an eyebrow. 'What?' he asks, because that's really all he can manage. Raven giggles at the image of some kid watching a show about Bat man and his legion of robins and their crime fighting in Gotham city. They bicker about that all the way to the manor and Kori and Dick look at them worried when the both of them repeatedly make a few aborted hand movements but AGAIN that's something that they are seen doing once in a while so they don't question it.

 

Wayne Manor is everything and nothing that Raven expected it to be.

 

And Damians family is interesting, Bruce shifting between moments of batman and someone she's not yet familiar with, Selina Kyle ever witty and sharp with her sense of humor, Tim Drake is nice and so is his girlfriend Stephanie, Cassie is funny and Barbra is a big sister (and her and Kori get along real well), Jason Todd is...a bit on the violent side but is the tough big brother, Alfred is a kind sweet but stern Englishman and how she'd always imagined a good grandfather would be and Dick and Kori are Dick and Kori. It's a sense of family that's different from the Titans, but equal in its love warmth and sense of wonderful.

 

But while the big family is fun and all they're very talkative and active and demanding and crowd around Raven and make her feel like one of them while asking her question after question. The first day is EXHUASTING. (As are the following which she spends alternatively with whoever manages to grab her before someone else does.) (She gets time with everyone but Damian, but then again he's always with her complaining consistently about one thing or the other, and she lets him because while his voice lists off his grievances in her head she senses the fondness and love behind the words and it makes her feel warm and a part of something) But, as Damian honestly forgot to mention, his family weren't the only people she'd have to deal with as a result of residing at Wayne manor for the holiday. 

 

 

 

 


End file.
